


Twice the Dadness, Twice the Coolness

by Tren



Category: Tales of Symphonia
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Lloyd's random ideas are so wrong yet so right, team tries to figure out Kratos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 03:12:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6453112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tren/pseuds/Tren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Say, completely hypothetically speaking,” Lloyd started in a tone of voice that suggested that there was <i>nothing</i> hypothetical about the question he was about to ask. “How would you go about asking someone to become kinda sorta father figure?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Twice the Dadness, Twice the Coolness

**Author's Note:**

> So guess, who had been playing Symphonia and having feels. That's right, me. 
> 
> This fic was mostly written because my laptop decided to break down right before the Easter and during the thrilling week of not knowing if all my data (including all my fic data) was salvageable (it was) I started to write this on a piece of paper. Now that my laptop is (thankfully) back I motivated myself to finish this, because it's been way too long since I finished a fic.
> 
> I didn't feel like figuring out at what point exactly this fic takes place. I'm pretty sure it fits somewhere.

The camp was quiet. Lloyd, Colette and Genis were half-sitting, half-lying close to each other and talking quietly. On the other side of the campfire Raine had already been sleeping, exhausted after the day’s adventures. Kratos was out of sight at the moment, doing rounds around the camp to check if there weren’t any monsters nearby.

It was during the lull in the conversation, where it seemed that the group of teenagers would also slowly drift into sleep that the silence was suddenly broken.

“Say, completely hypothetically speaking,” Lloyd started in a tone of voice that suggested that there was _nothing_ hypothetical about the question he was about to ask. “How would you go about asking someone to become kinda sorta father figure?”

“Father figure?” Colette asked confused.

“Kinda sorta?” Genis asked in a more down to earth tone of voice. “Besides don’t you already have a father?”

“Well, yes,” Lloyd admitted, “but I was thinking about it and I thought… Wouldn’t it be cool to have two dads?”

Genis sighed. There goes any pretense of hypotheticality.

“Lloyd, you can’t have two dads,” Genis pointed out. As far as he knew this was not how those things worked.

“But Colette has!” the swordsman retorted immediately. “It’s not like Dirk isn’t cool,” Lloyd admitted in a quieter voice, “but with second dad there would be twice the coolness!”

“Lloyd,” Genis tried to calm down his friend, but it was too late. The teenager had already gotten into his idea.

“Besides, my mom is dead and I have no other relatives. So wouldn’t it balance out if I got another dad?” the swordsman asked hopefully.

There was an awkward silence, as Genis swallowed his rebuttal. 

“I think this is a great idea!” Colette agreed enthusiastically, restoring the light-hearted tone of the conversation.

“Yeah, and there are no downsides to it!” Lloyd continued happily. “I would get twice the love, twice the birthday presents, twice…”

“…the scolding, when you do something wrong,” Genis finished for him.

The swordsman sent him a flat look.

“Okay, so maybe there are some cons,” Lloyd admitted in a tone of voice that suggested that pros still outweighed the cons. “But all I had to do was make sure I wouldn’t get in trouble.”

Colette clapped her hands in agreement, while Genis decided not to point out how impossible it was for Lloyd _not_ to get into trouble.

“So you are going to ask Kratos to be your dad?” the Chosen asked happily.

Lloyd made a distressed sound and started to flail in panic.

“Wait why do you think it’s about him?!” he asked in horror.

“Who else could it be about,” Genis deadpanned. “The only other adult you had been spending time with is Raine and I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t want her to be your dad.”

Lloyd had turned a bright shade of red, now that his friends figured out exactly what he was trying to hide.

“Look,” the swordsman interrupted them, “as I was saying this is completely hypothetical question and…”

“Lloyd, if you weren’t serious about this, you wouldn’t be asking us for ideas,” Genis pointed out.

“But this is great idea!” Colette repeated with more power, obviously supporting the notion. “I’m sure Kratos would be happier too!”

There was a short moment of silence, as the idea sank in.

“Y-you think?” Lloyd asked bashfully, overcoming his embarrassment.

“I’m sure of it!” Colette assured her friend. “He really enjoys your company! He even agreed to give you the sword lessons!”

“Well, yeah, but that’s because I’m bad at it,” Lloyd countered. It was obvious that he was feeling both happiness and abashment when it came to those lessons. 

“That’s not true!” Genis interjected, deciding that he should also support Colette’s argument. “I once asked him to help me with my magic, but he only gave me a couple of tips and said that as an elf I have a better sense of magic than him and I would figure it out by myself given some time,” Genis admitted, sounding disappointed despite himself. He couldn’t help feeling slightly jealous that Lloyd received more attention and support than him.

Lloyd and Colette looked at their friend in surprise.

“You asked Kratos to help you with magic?” the swordsman was in disbelief.

“Yeah! Something wrong with that?!” Genis shouted defensively, but quickly silenced himself remembering about sleeping Raine. Luckily, she seemed undisturbed by their loud conversation. Genis continued in a quieter voice. “I’ve just seen how much you’ve improved with his help and I didn’t want to fall behind,” he admitted shyly.

“Ah, no, I totally understand wanting to ask him for help!” Lloyd said quickly. “I was just surprised you would ask him rather than Professor.”

“Raine has been teaching me about magic,” Genis explained with a small sigh. “But she specializes in healing magic, so not everything she teaches me can be applied to my spells,” he admitted wistfully. “Meanwhile, Kratos knows some offensive magic similar to mine, so I was sort of hoping…”

“I’ve been wondering about that,” Colette said, seeing that Genis was not going to finish his sentence. “How can Kratos use magic when he’s human?”

“Huh? That’s a good question!” Lloyd agreed, puzzled by this sudden revelation.

“Seriously, you only noticed it now?” Genis asked in exasperation, but quickly rushed to explanation. “Sister and I wondered about that too. Apparently, it’s thanks to his exsphere.”

“Exsphere? Does that mean I could also use magic?” Lloyd asked with a newfound interest.

“No,” Genis immediately shot his friend. “Kratos said he only became capable of using magic after getting his exsphere. He’s not sure why himself. Since exspheres boost capabilities of the body, Raine theorized that maybe he had some sort of elven ancestor.”

“Wait, so he is a half-elf?” Lloyd asked in confusion. 

“No, but it is possible that he had a half-elf grandpa,” Genis explained patiently. “It’s a distant enough relation that he would have no visible elven characteristics, but could still inherit a bit of magical talent.”

“I see,” Lloyd said thoughtfully. Never a good sign. “But what if I also have some elven…”

“No, Lloyd, you don’t,” Genis interrupted.

“How can you be so sure?” Lloyd asked with a chagrin.

“Because if it was the case you would have already accidentally set something on fire with your magic. Face it, you are no mage.”

“But Colette is learning some magic,” the swordsman pointed out disgruntled. 

“Because she is turning into an angel,” Genis pointed out.

“Then what if I also turned into an angel?!”

“You would still suck at magic,” the half-elf deadpanned.

Colette giggled at that, while Lloyd pouted.

“Oh fine! Who needs magic! I will become the greatest swordsman! I won’t need any stinkin magic!” he decided as he squinted at Genis.

“Fine, but I won’t help you with getting on Kratos’ good side,” the mage retorted.

“Come on, Genis, we should help Lloyd with that,” Colette said as she smiled at them.

Lloyd got quiet, as the embarrassment from before caught up to him. However, he managed to get himself together.

“You are my best friend, your magic is cool and you are the smartest guy I know, please help me out!” Lloyd pleaded while making extremely convincing puppy eyes.

Genis sighed in exasperation, but couldn’t help feeling fond.

“Okay, okay, but honestly I have no idea how to help you. I don’t really get Kratos, either,” he admitted. “What about you, Colette?”

“Ummm, maybe try talking more to him?”

“But he makes fun of me whenever I talk to him,” Lloyd pointed out with a pout.

“He doesn’t,” Genis interjected. “You always take everything he says personally, even though half of that stuff is not aimed at you. When we were travelling through the desert you got angry at him for correcting your assessment that it wouldn’t rain in the evening. He was only concerned about finding a shelter from the rain and you still acted as if the weather had personally offended you on that day, when it _did_ start to rain.”

“That was…” Lloyd muttered, but his voice trailed as he failed to think of a good comeback.

“Genis is right, you shouldn’t get so angry at Kratos,” Colette added. “Most of the time he is just looking out for us.”

Lloyd looked at the ground.

“But he can be so harsh sometimes,” he muttered. Even though he looked up to him, he was obviously struggling with completely accepting Kratos.

“I think, that he had been through some difficult things,” Colette admitted. 

“Difficult things?” Lloyd muttered confused.

“Like some sad experiences,” she tried to explain. “Like when Iselia was attacked and you and Genis got exiled. That kind of things,” she paused for a moment before continuing. “I get a feeling he had seen a lot of sad things like that.”

“Are you sure? I mean, I know he is an adult, but he isn’t quite that old,” Genis asked, not sure what to think about Colette’s impression.

“Ummm, maybe,” she muttered, deep in thought. “But there is something about his eyes.”

“Eyes?” Lloyd asked.

“Well, when he says harsh things, he always has this sad look in his eyes. Like he doesn’t want his own words to be true,” she tried to explain. 

“Are you sure?” Genis asked once more. “He never shows much emotions on his face.”

“But it’s not really face? Just eyes,” Colette said as she waved the hand before her eyes, but then she stopped abruptly. “Maybe I’m just imaging it…”

“Don’t put yourself down like that!” Lloyd said, smiling at her. “You are the only one here who seems to have any idea about him! You should have more faith in yourself. Plus, you travelled with him longer than me and Genis. Maybe that’s why it’s more obvious for you.”

“Maybe,” Colette wondered.

“I mean, it wouldn’t hurt him if he emoted a bit more, instead of being a stone-faced prick,” Lloyd said sagely.

“And who would be that stone-faced prick?” a deep and unamused voice asked.

Everyone turned slowly in the direction of the voice to see Kratos with his arms crossed. He was glaring at them. Apparently, he had returned from his rounds around the camp without anyone noticing.

“N-no one!” Genis yelped. Lloyd seemed to have frozen with his mouth half-opened.

“Oh really?” Kratos asked and it became clear that he knew exactly who the phrase referred to. The teenagers tried to sink deeper underneath their blankets, as if they could protect them from the piercing glare. “Anyway, you should stop with the chatter. We are raising early tomorrow. It won’t do you any good, if you are sleepy tomorrow, because you spent the night gossiping.”

“We’re sorry,” the teenagers murmured in unison, before hiding completely in their blankets.

*

Kratos stood in place a minute longer to make sure that no one would attempt to begin an idle talk, before he moved to check on campfire. It wasn’t long before he could hear measured breaths which meant that the younger members of the group had finally fallen asleep as well.

Kratos glanced at them. It was hard to believe that several minutes ago they were all busy gossiping about him. The mercenary wasn’t quite sure what prompted it. He didn’t mean to eavesdrop on their conversation, but when he heard Lloyd making a strangled noises he couldn’t help getting worried and adjusting his senses to hear what exactly was going on (because the boy had a talent at getting in trouble and for all Kratos knew he could have been choking on an apple). He was relieved to learn that the distress was purely emotional, but Kratos found it hard to tune out the conversation when he realized that it was apparently about him.

_Well, it’s not surprising that they are wondering. I’m the only outsider in the group._

Obviously, they weren’t even close to figuring out his actual identity, but it was a bit sobering to hear them graze the truth. The Chosen was apparently much more observant than he gave her credit for.

He continued to stare at the campfire and the sleeping group of teenagers, as he pondered on what he had heard. Two things troubled him.

_Do I really sound that harsh?_

And…

_Why would Lloyd be trying “to get on my good side”?_

However, no answers came to him. When it came to understanding their meandering logic, he just couldn’t keep up with the kids.


End file.
